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The death of a loved one due to an asbestos-related disease is devastating for any family, not just because of the obvious emotional distress involved, but also due to the practical and financial issues this can cause.
If you have lost a loved one due to mesothelioma, lung cancer, asbestosis, pleural thickening or any other disease caused by exposure to asbestos, claiming compensation can never truly make up for that loss, but it can make life much easier for you and your family during this difficult time.
Boyes Turner is ranked tier 1 by leading client guide the Legal 500 for personal injury claims, recognising our team as one of the country’s top law firms for representing claimants in all types of personal injury claims.
Our Personal Injury department has been noted in the Legal 500 for our “talented and motivated” team, with specific praise for our “strong presence and deserved national reputation, particularly in asbestos and other industrial disease claims”.
The team is led by Boyes Turner Partner Laura Magson, a highly experienced personal injury lawyer.
Supporting Laura in our specialist Mesothelioma and Asbestos Disease Claims team are “thorough, professional and compassionate” Senior associate - solicitors Melloney Harbutt and Annabelle Neilson.
Laura, Melloney and Annabelle are all accredited Senior Litigators with the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL), and Laura, Annabelle and Melloney are also APIL-accredited Asbestos Disease Specialists.
We are accredited by the Law Society for Personal Injury law in recognition of our specialist expertise in representing claimants for personal injury compensation, including those involving asbestos-related deaths.
We are also accredited by the Law Society for Clinical Negligence, meaning we can offer highly effective advice and support where misdiagnosis or late diagnosis of an asbestos-related disease is a factor in the death of your loved one.
Our fatal mesothelioma and asbestos disease claims solicitors have been helping families to pursue compensation for asbestos-related deaths for many years, helping to make the process as simple and stress-free as we can.
We offer the clear, empathetic advice and specialist legal expertise and representation you need to secure a fair settlement to help deal with the financial and practical consequences of your loss.
To arrange a free initial telephone conversation with our friendly, expert fatal mesothelioma and asbestos disease claims solicitors, please get in touch.
£1.1 million settlement for fatal mesothelioma claim
Kim Smerdon secured a £1.1million settlement for a family who had lost a loved one to mesothelioma. The claim was for loss-of-dependency, with the deceased having been the primary earner for the family.
£110,000 settlement from MOD after husbands death from lung cancer and asbestosis
Laura Magson secured a settlement of £110,000 for the widow of a former Chatham Dockyard, originally thought to be from suspected lung cancer. Despite lack of witness evidence and engineering evidence, the absence of a lifetime statement from the deceased and his history of heavy smoking a settlement was reached for his widow a year after she first asked us to investigate her claim.
£59,600 settlement for non-dependent family of former builder
We negotiated an out-of-court settlement of just over £59,600 for the family of a former builder and carpenter who died due to respiratory failure connected to asbestos-related pleural effusion and pleural thickening. We were able to secure the settlement in spite of the family not being financially dependent on the deceased.
£85,025 settlement for asbestosis-related death
Our team negotiated an £85,025 settlement for the bereaved family of a former construction project manager whose death was partially caused by asbestosis. The claim was originally started by the deceased shortly before his death and continued by his family. The deceased’s illness was related to asbestos exposure in the 1960s and early 1970s during his time working at an oil refinery.
To book your free initial appointment and find out more about making a no win, no fee compensation claim for a death due to asbestos, please get in touch with our friendly, expert mesotheliom and asbestos disease claims team.
The majority of claims we handle for asbestos compensation after death are funded on the basis of a Conditional Fee Agreement or ‘no win, no fee’ deal.
If you are or were a member of a trade union, they may be able to provide funding for industrial disease claims, such as those for asbestos-related diseases. Whether trade union funding is available will depend on the circumstances and a Conditional Fee Agreement may sometimes still be the preferable choice.
Find out more about funding your claim.
While a Conditional Fee Agreement means you do not need to pay anything towards our legal fees at the start of your claim, we do recommend taking out After the Event (ATE) insurance.
ATE insurance is intended to cover the cost of the defendant’s legal fees in the unlikely event that you were to become liable for their costs. This would only happen if your claim goes to court and the judge rules against you and awards costs against you.
Very few asbestos-related death claims ever go to court as they are almost always settled out-of-court. However, we will discuss with you whether after the event insurance is a sensible precaution in your case.
If your loved one passed away due to mesothelioma then the defendants will almost always pay the insurance premium. There are no upfront fees in any case as the premiums are deferred until the conclusion of your case.
To be able to claim compensation for the asbestos-related death of a loved one, you will need to be their surviving spouse, civil partner, child or executor.
If you are unsure whether you may be able to make a claim for asbestos compensation after death, please get in touch and we will be happy to discuss this with you.
Am I entitled to compensation for an asbestos-related death in the family?
To be eligible for compensation for an asbestos-related death, a number of key factors must apply:
Sadly, it is very common for someone with asbestosis, mesothelioma or another asbestos-related disease who starts a compensation claim to pass away before the claim is resolved. Where this occurs, it may be possible for their family to continue the claim or it may be appropriate to start a separate claim, depending on the circumstances.
Our asbestos claims solicitors can advise you on the best option for you and guide you through the process, taking over an asbestos claim or starting a new claim.
When someone sadly passes away and they were suffering from an asbestos related disease the death is often referred to the coroner. The death may be considered in more detail by the coroner and it may be that the death was wholly or partially caused by previous asbestos exposure. Alternatively it may be that your loved one was suffering from an asbestos related disease but that the cause of death was unrelated to asbestos.
For example, if someone who dies due to respiratory failure was suffering from asbestos-related pleural effusion or pleural thickening, those asbestos-related issues may be considered a contributing factor to the respiratory failure, but not the sole cause. On the other hand, someone may be suffering with asbestosis (or another condition) during their life, but can also have other problems such as a heart condition which might be their actual cause of death. In situations where your loved one's death was partially caused, or contributed to, by asbestos disease or where they were suffering from an asbestos related disease during lifetime but another unrelated condition caused their death, the family can often continue with a pre-existing claim.
Exactly what you can claim for an asbestos related death will depend on the circumstances, but key types of compensation you may be able to claim include:
We will aim to provide a clear estimate of your claim’s likely value at the earliest opportunity, so please get in touch to find out more.
You will generally have three years from the date of death to make a claim for asbestos compensation after death.
In exceptional circumstances, a court may grant permission to bring a claim outside of this three-year time limit, however, this is rare, so should not be relied on. We therefore recommend you contact our Mesothelioma and Asbestos Disease Claims team as soon as possible to ensure you do not miss out on the chance to make a claim.
Even if the deceased already claimed compensation for their disease before their death, you may still be able to make a separate claim depending on the circumstances. Whether you are eligible to make a separate claim will depend on the details of the previous claim, so this is something we would need to review with you during your free initial consultation.
The overwhelming majority of claims for asbestos compensation after death can be resolved with an out-of-court settlement. This allows you to get a fair settlement for your claim without the stress and uncertainty of court proceedings. It also normally makes the claims process much faster and less costly.
However, in some cases court proceedings may be required to ensure you are able to get the compensation you are entitled to. In such cases, we can offer the experienced, expert representation and emotional support you need to make the process as straightforward and stress-free as possible, while ensuring your case is presented in the most effective way.
Call our specialist legal teams Monday - Friday, 9:00 - 17.30 for free, no obligation advice.
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For people with an asbestos related disease, there is usually no problem in bringing a claim, even though the exposure occurred a long time ago. This is because you have three years from the date it can reasonably have been expected that you “knew or ought to have known” that your condition may be associated with your asbestos exposure, within which to issue court proceedings.
If someone dies within three years of this date then the personal Will representative for the estate has three years from the date of death within which to issue court proceedings. However, there are some circumstances where exceptions can be made, so please do contact us so that we can advise you appropriately.
We are happy to discuss the possibility of bringing a claim, without any obligation to take matters further.
In addition to understanding how the asbestos related diagnosis came about and the impact of that diagnosis, we will ask for information about how you or your loved one came into contact with asbestos so we can start to assess your potential claim.
Even if you haven’t worked directly with asbestos or cannot recall the circumstances of your asbestos exposure then still get in touch with us as it may well be that, after careful questioning, it becomes apparent where and when your exposure to asbestos is likely to have occurred. We have an extensive database of statements and documents involving many UK employers and companies.
Where asbestos is considered to have potentially played a part in a death, it is important that the local coroner is notified of the death and that a post-mortem takes place. We can advise on this process. An initial interview is always provided free of charge. At that meeting we will discuss how to fund the claim. In the majority of cases, we can act under a Conditional Fee Agreement (‘no win, no fee’).
It is possible to make an asbestos claim on behalf of a loved one who has died as a result of an asbestos-related disease.
You may be entitled to claim if you were the spouse or child of someone who lost their life to this disease, or if you were financially dependent on them. The claim is brought by the personal representative of the estate.
To make a compensation claim in these cases, you must start your claim within three years of the date of death or at the point at which a post-mortem reveals that the death was caused by asbestos exposure.
The company where you worked at the time of your asbestos exposure, or the defendant company, is liable to pay your compensation. However, due to the latency period of asbestos in the body, a lot of companies have ceased trading once a claim is relevant.
If your former employer has gone out of business, you could still make a claim. The company is likely to have been insured to deal with claims such as this, so it will be the insurer’s responsibility to meet the compensation claim.
In cases where the companies have gone out of business and the insurers are untraceable there are benefits and in some cases, lump sums, set up to compensate those diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases.
It may be that you did not come into contact with asbestos through your work. We also act for people who contracted mesothelioma through washing a loved one’s overalls, by living near to an asbestos factory or by attending a school where asbestos was disturbed.
We may also be able to bring a claim on behalf of those who believe they were exposed to asbestos whilst they were self-employed.
This will vary from case to case and will depend on the type of disease you are suffering from, the medical treatment that you may require and any losses incurred.
The claim amount may be made up of the following:
There are various Government benefits available for those diagnosed with an asbestos related condition, including the following:
For mesothelioma:
For asbestos related lung cancer:
For benign asbestos related diseases (asbestosis and asbestos-related diffuse pleural thickening):
We are happy to put you in touch with a charity who can assist you in making any appropriate applications.
A lot of types of asbestos have been under restrictions since the 1970s, the last type was banned in 1999. It is therefore possible to have been exposed to asbestos whilst working on buildings that were built or refurbished before 2000 and in many other professions, we see a large number of former laggers’ or plumbers who have been diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease after exposure at work.
Guidance regulations were introduced in 1970 on the use of asbestos in the workplace. These days, employers must follow strict rules set out by the Health and Safety Executive. They should:
If your employer failed to follow regulations around the use of asbestos and you later developed an asbestos-related illness, you could be entitled to compensation.
Our highly experienced mesothelioma and asbestos claims solicitors are recognised by Legal 500 and Chambers as experts in handling asbestos related claims.
Whilst we cannot guarantee that any particular claim will settle out of court, we take great care in investigating and preparing each claim that we take on. Our clients’ claims usually settle successfully without the need for a contested trial.
Even in non-contested cases, there will be occasions when the case is brought for shorter hearings before the court. In these cases, the lawyers for both sides present the agreed settlement to the court for the judge’s approval.
There is no bar to bringing a claim in the UK if you have been exposed to asbestos in the UK but you are now living abroad.
We act for many clients who have chosen to move abroad including those living in Australia, Gibraltar, New Zealand, Spain and Thailand.
If you are suffering from an asbestos related disease or condition and may have been exposed to asbestos whilst working in the UK, or for a UK based or owned company, you may be entitled to claim compensation.
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Our teams have been nationally recognised over the past decade for their dedication and commitment to securing maximum compensation for our clients
I am writing this review on behalf of my husband Colin Wyeth and myself. We were advised by Colin’s Consultant to get a solicitor for Industrial Injuries as he was diagnosed with mesothelioma, however, this was a rare presentation of mesothelioma and so underwent two big operations at Guys Hospital in London. The first operation was October 2019 after which he made a good recovery and was monitored with 6 monthly CT scans, unfortunately the scan showed a reappearance of the mesothelioma (in the lining of the lung) in 2021 and was admitted to Guys Hospital again in May 2021. He is now being called for scans every 2 months. We contacted Laura Magson and her team at Boyes Turner LLP in 2019 right at the beginning of this awful diagnosis and I have to say we could not have chosen a better team, they have been absolutely brilliant from start to finish of our case delivering an outstanding result and award. Throughout this case they have been kind, patient and considerate whilst gathering all the information needed to present Colin’s case at court which was a mammoth task going back 50 odd years. Laura, I have to say has gone above and beyond, so thorough and professional whilst being so kind and patient during this unusual case.
When I was first advised that I should make a claim for my industrial injury. I wasn’t convinced that after such a long period of time it would be possible to fine out how or where I had been exposed to Asbestos. However, Boyes Turner representative Laura Magson and her team made the process straight forward and easy to understand.
Laura Magson was superb in all the dealings with this claim from start to finish. She was professional, friendly and extremely helpful in keeping in touch regularly through a very difficult situation for my wife and l. We feel as though we have made a good friend.
The outcome was as she had hoped for us after negotiating herself through what could be termed as a minefield! One to be highly recommended, well done Laura and thank you so much.
Martin Anderson was professional, friendly, knowledgable and has the patience of a saint in our dealings with this claim from start to finish. He remained in regular contact throughout the claim and provide a fantastic service, would highly recommend.
Laura's service has been perfect. Compassionate, explanatory and efficient. It made what was a difficult set of corcumstance, much easier to deal with. A great outcome - a monetary amount we weren't expecting, and very quick.
